Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer have only recently been able to step back and take in the cultural impact their Emmy-winning show has had on the world.
“When you’re in the midst of making it, you’re just so stressed about making it, so you don’t really think about any of that stuff,” Matt said at an FYC event for the Netflix series in Los Angeles on Thursday. “But now that we’re on the other side of it, you do a little bit.”
The Duffer brothers joined executive producer and director Shawn Levy and cast members Noah Schnapp (Will), Natalia Dyer (Nancy), David Harbour (Jim), and Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna) on a panel at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The discussion, moderated by Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, also featured members of the show’s creative team: makeup effects department head Barrie Gower, supervising sound editor Craig Henighan, hair designer Sarah Hindsgaul, stunt coordinator Hiro Koda, and VFX supervisor Michael Maher Jr.
“It’s 10 years that we’ve been doing this show, and everyone here has turned into our family, our extended family,” Matt added. “We’re really proud to have been there at the beginning to help jumpstart some of their careers, and give them their first opportunity, and then to have seen them grow as artists.”
While the Emmy-nominated writer and executive producer noted that hearing from fans who grew up on the show is “kind of a new thing,” he shared that older teens and twentysomethings frequently approach them to talk about the positive impact the series has had on their lives.
“It helped them through a difficult time, because Ross and I had difficult times growing up,” Matt explained.
“When we were kids, that’s really what helped us through challenging moments … our love for movies, and bonding over those with family and friends,” Ross added. “So whenever someone tells us that story, it just makes us very happy.”
The 21-year-old Schnapp, who was just 11 when the series premiered, shared how much he has grown as an artist, noting that he became much more comfortable weighing in on his character for Season 5.
“Starting off as a kid, you walk in all nervous and scared and think your opinion’s not valued, and then as you get older, you realize, ‘No, I’ve been with this character for so many years, and I also have an opinion that matters,’” he explained. “And I think coming into this season, I felt confident in that.”
Schnapp joked that “the Duffers can speak to how many texts I’ve sent them that went unanswered of ideas and pitches for this and that.”
After Ross’ playful protestations, Schnapp doubled down, saying he “could pull up the receipts.”
“Leave the read receipt on,” Harbour quipped.
Schnapp also explained that the brothers supported him when he wanted to add a meaningful scene between his character, Will, and friend Mike (Finn Wolfhard) in Episode 8, following Will’s coming-out scene in Episode 7.
“I felt like there was needed closure between those two characters that people love so much together,” he said.
Schnapp wasn’t the only cast member who dealt with unanswered text messages. Bower — who plays three personas via Vecna, Henry, and Mr. Whatsit — described how he approached his multifaceted character with the Duffer brothers ahead of the final episodes.
“There’s sort of this huge manifesto that he gives over about his core belief system,” the actor observed about his Season 4 arc. “The world is a lie. My parents presented themselves as a lie, and it’s all just a silly, terrible play, and I couldn’t do that. Then we come back for Season 5, and all of a sudden, [the Duffers] are like, ‘So you’re going to be lying to a bunch of children.’ OK, s–t, how do I do this?”
The actor frequently arrived on set at 3 a.m. to undergo extensive makeup and prosthetics application, and said he spent “a long time grappling with that.”
“Again, like Noah, sent a load of text messages that didn’t get answered,” he joked. “But [the Duffers] were very sweet, because they just let me kind of ramble, and then we would come back to it later.”
For Harbour, working alongside a young cast who initially lacked extensive onset experience was “enjoyable as hell.”
“A lot of kid actors that you work with are very actor-y, and they really know what they’re doing,” the Emmy-nominated actor said. “Part of the strength of the [Stranger Things] actors … [is that] all these little kids were just kinda kids.”
Speaking to her emotional breakup scene with Charlie Heaton’s character, Jonathan, Dyer complimented the “beautiful writing” and expressed her desire to be “effective” in honoring the characters’ long history.
“There’s so much pressure on everybody, but us as actors and all the care that we have as well for wrapping up these storylines and these emotional moments,” she said. “[It’s been] 10 years for us, of living with these characters and sending them off on their journey. So having that sort of quiet moment in all of the chaos was such a gift and an opportunity.”
As part of the FYC celebration, Ryan Lintelman, curator of the entertainment collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, announced that the museum will officially accept Eleven’s iconic pink dress into the National Entertainment Collection.
“The costume that we’re accepting into the Smithsonian collection tonight helps us to tell these stories, to mark the extraordinary run of this hugely popular and influential series, to celebrate the incredible creativity and emotionally resonant performances that have entertained and inspired its millions of fans,” Lintelman said.
“Now it will live on in the Smithsonian’s collection,” he added, “representing Stranger Things and its impact on American history for generations to come.”
